Can we go on? DSO contemplates Masterchef sans Marion and Jonathan

I am so sad. After performing amazing cooking feats, the nation’s most beloved AND the nation’s most bitched about are both gone.

Marion definitely had skill in buckets, and was lovely. The only good thing about her elimination was watching Alvin say OMG and Claire wrap Aaron up in the biggest hug, while the others tried not to smile at the chance they might now get ahead.

Jonathan suited more complicated tastes than Marion, or maybe it was just that he grew on you. He certainly grew on me. I can only think how irritated he was that he got knocked out by two Eliminata, but he graciously did not say so. He did however say that his ruthless ‘eliminator’ persona was a product of the cutting room floor. The bevy of friends and family and the loving wife who welcomed him home would seem to indicate this is true.

Oh goodness. Two reliable, consistent performers, each capable of real flair, each of whom held deep knowledge and understanding of their craft, both gone. So now, we return to the gifted amateurs.

Thoughts people, thoughts. Will the telly be better or worse without them? Will others fly now that Marion and Jonathan aren’t going to win everything? Will the food be better now that people who don’t know very much will be faffing about in the Masterchef kitchen?

OR WAS THIS ALL A STUNT TO PLAY WITH OUR HEADS?

You be the judge. The thread is open. Bitch, whine, moan, complain, mourn. Whatever you need to do.

24 comments ↓

Jonathan grew on me. I liked that he told it how it was – he always owned up when he plated up something average, unlike some of the others who would try to spin a story or whatever. Having someone like Courtney still in the competition and Jonathan and Marion gone is like salt in the wound.

However. I thought it was good how Marion was eliminated. It would have been so easy to leave her in given that it was neck and neck between her and Aaron in the cook off; it at least pays lip service to the idea that this show is meant to be judged fairly, bc they judged it on that dish rather than their prior knowledge of who is the better cook. Ditto with Jonathan too I guess.

The only person I care about in the competition is Adam – not only can he cook, he has style, and he’s interesting. Same I guess with Aaron and to a lesser extent Alvin. The chicks and Jimmy are just SO BLAND.

Well, I can’t. It has made me think too much about how this “Masterchef” works and it doesn’t bear too much scrutiny as a cooking talent show.

I’ve joined calls for blind tastings to be standard and for the judges to award points to determine the winners, believing that it would give the judgements a credibility that they seem to lack. Of course, the original Masterchef doesn’t work that way, and I still trust Torode and Wallace- perhaps that’s because their version follows a set formula (mystery box, cull, work experience, invention, cull, rinse and repeat) focussing on food rather than the contestants’ personalities.

Who knows. Whatever it is, I’m jaded and following the rest of the season via Twitter and blogs.

I must admit I’m finding it hard to believe in the remaining people because I have always felt they were a step below those two. And if you think that the end point is a cookbook and restaurant … I just don’t think anyone else is rounded enough to produce either of those things. Not that I have any doubt that M&J will have triumphant food journeys … (what is a food journey btw?).

Sad. I was pleased to see how loved and respected Jonathan was by the other contestants, and I think it showed up how the editing works.

If Claire wins I shall stab myself in the eye with a fork. I think Adam will win, but I don’t like his topknot. It shits me that it’s all gone to crap and that’s enough of a reason given the absence of the really talented ones.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Zoe , Naomi Parry. Naomi Parry said: New post for debriefing about the post-Marion-Jonathan-apocalypse that is Masterchef – Progressive Dinner Party http://bit.ly/dx2hnw [...]

Whether or not we got to see the ‘real deal’ Marion & Johnno, this is one viewer who is v. disappointed to see that pair of talented amateurs go. And to be left with ‘curries-I-can-do-but-my-croquembouche-is-crap’ Jimmy … well, that’s just bad TV.

I’m hoping Aaron wins, now. I think Marion was got rid of in the rudest way imaginable, after she had really played the game and delivered, then they couldn’t even just simply say her bloody peanut sauce was a bit nicer than aarons. It was completely obvious they’d decided to not keep her any longer.
I am still really enjoying the product placement, though.

If my, admittedly dodgy and made up on the spot, theory is correct then Adam or Aaron will be the next to go because people have said good things about them and Masterchef seem to be more interested in getting rid of the ‘favourites’ than anything else.

The show has gone downhill since marion and jonathan leaving because it is a lot harder to take it seriously seeing talent such as callum and jimmy still being in when marion and jonathan were far superior – makes it seem a game of chance and then the judges have the cheek to say that these are the best home cooks in Australia – maybe they should say they are the luckiest home cooks in Australia!

I am now thinking that you can only win Masterchef if your name starts with A.

Totally – I was appalled at the fact that Callum got through despite failing to plate. First rule is you serve something, anything!! They were so hard on Jonathan right at the end, why should Callum have been let off? Even he thought it was bizarro.

The cast we are left with going into the finals seems suspiciously diverse. We have a Japanese man, a Malaysian gay man, an Indian boy next door man, Anglo boy and two Anglo women – one of whom is a toffee lawyer and one of whom is a girl next door.
At least Adam, Alvin, Courtney and Claire can all cook and are all likeable and interesting. But Callum and Jimmy have been given more chances than anyone deserves.

But who do I want to win? The honest answer would have to be Jonathan or Marion.

It’s all very interesting. Jono did grow on me, but I still saw him as being patchy (Tim in the previous entry referred to him as “Macdonald’s Jonathan, or Michelin Jonathan”. Marion I loved from the outset, and her elimination looked very staged. I really don’t know. Courtney grates on me. I wish she’d stop wearing that feather around her neck, and I’m not convinced she can cook. I still want more cooking, and less drama. Less of the wall-of-flame ad breaks, and genrally less wanking.

I know it all seems unfair but I think Marion and Jonathan will go far in their own right. Who needs to win Masterchef when all you will be doing is endorsing Fountain sauce and Gladwrap? Good luck to all of them and whoever wins will be a pretty poster face for a bunch of endorsements, and maybe Marion and Jonathan were just too smart for that.

At the end of it all everyone but one contestant has to be eliminated. Unfortunately the way it is set up is intrinsicaly unfair. The judges are constantly comparing oranges to apples. Unless the contestants cook the same dish, or use the same ingredients as in mystery boxes, they cannot really be fairly compared. There is also plenty of scope for the judges to exercise discretion, should I say bias, or prejudice, consciously or unconsciously.
It’s a clever show and the contestants were an appealing lot. Adam and Callum were especially entertaining on Friday taking the piss out of the judges.
Good luck to them. My money, the kiss of death, is on Adam.